The accepted but not proven parents of Cassandra Burnell Southwick are Humphrey and Ann Burnell of Bearley, Warwickshire. This has seemed problematic to me for a number of reasons, primarily that Cassandra names none of her children Humphrey or Ann.
I started on a path to question this lineage by noting that the second known son of Cassandra and Lawrence Southwick is born in Kingswinford, not surviving to adulthood, and is named Ananias Southwick. Anianias is baptized 1 Sep 1627 and buried 17 Sep 1627. This unusual name will then reappear on one of the few early records of Lawrence Southwick in Salem when Ananias Conklin, Obadiah Holmes and Lawrence Southwick set aside 2 acres of land for one of the first glassworks in 1639.
Ananias Conklin is also from Kingswinford, where he baptizes the children in his family (Mary, Jeremy and Cornelius). The last baptism is in 1637, two years before the Salem record. We do not know the parents of Ananias, although some suspect he is the son of a William Conklin or it could be a George Conklin.
This uncommon name “Ananias” only appears on a few records in the Kingswinford region, which includes the town of Old Swinford:
C1617 Ananias Southwick s of Lawrence and Cassandra
C1618 Ananias Henslee s of Josua, glassblower
Oldwinsford
C1613 Ananais Arche son of Thomas Arche
C1637 Cornelius Co[nu]clen son of Annumus
This region is the site of glassmaking, where the Henzey family plays a significant role. Joshua Henzey is the son of one Ananias Henzey from the Lorraine region of France, whose family would feature. While Ananias’ son is clearly there, he leaves his will in 1660, his father Ananias is not found in any extant records. But I believe he is the possible father of Cassandra.
Cassandra Burnell marries Lawrence Southwick of Kingswinford in 1623 in